Had the Senate troika of McCain, Warner and Graham not stepped in to confront Mr. Bush's aggrandizement of power in the fight over detentions Congress would have merited a black eye. But even with their changes to the proposed law on detentions the administration still has far too much power to lock people up it suspects of terrorist connections.

So much of the NYT coverage has been written badly it was hard to figure out just how much the administration was giving up. Thankfully, the Times editorial board has sorted out the issues in this timely and concise piece.